Robin's Egg
by hono'o neko
Summary: Shortly after Joker's death, a normal girl, Robin Rebecca Jones goes into Arkham on a bet, and finds more than rats and ghosts inside. Her little escapade could cost her more than she was ever willing to bet.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Batman.

Wewt! Enjoy.

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Hi. My name is Rebecca Jones. Actually, my name is _Robin_ Rebecca Jones, but going by Rebecca saves people from confusion.

My story starts about a year after the Joker died. Well… died according to Gotham's finest, Batman, and Commissioner Gordon anyway.

Arkham was a crumbled shell of its former self. A new Arkham had been built in a better location, nonetheless rumors were spreading that they were going to rebuild it, into what, no one knew. Arkham would often alternate between abandoned and being full to the brim, it was the only place where the brightly costumed maniacs with access to comic book worthy weaponry could be held, if only for a finite amount of time.

I lived a good mile away from Arkham, sounds like a dangerous area to live, but for the most part escaped villains went straight for downtown Gotham and completely looked over us.

The new school year had just barely started and I was excited. Well, not for school, but in a few weeks was the Comic Con and I was so close to finishing my costume that I could taste it. I was planning to go as Batman's right hand man, Robin.

Now, one would think that with all the teasing that came from my name actually being Robin that I would hate to be mentioned in the same breath as the bird boy. On the contrary, the brightly colored sidekick was my favorite super hero of all time, even if he was just the sidekick.

Like most people on their first day of school, I spent most of my time not paying attention. It was all the same stuff anyway. "The rules for the class are blah blah blah." Coupled with a syllabus that had to be signed and returned. I'd rather be hopping rooftops and fighting villains than sit in another dull math class.

"If you go inside I'll give you twenty bucks." The voice of one of the boys sitting behind me broke me from my daydreams.

"No way man! Have you seen that place? There are probably bloodthirsty hobos living in there. You go in!" the boy sitting next to the first one whispered. I turned a bit so I could see them.

One boy had messy brown hair. He wore a red and black sleeveless shirt. I knew this kid, sort of, he liked to make stupid bets with people. I never caught his name, but then again I never cared. He spoke.

"Hobos ain't bloodthirsty, stupid." He rolled his eyes. "Forty bucks then. Come on."

The boy he was goading sat to the left. He was blond and wore a short sleeve button up shirt over a long sleeve shirt. He shook his head. "No, not for all the money in the world."

The boy sitting to the right of the trouble-making brunette was a redhead. His hair was curly, freckles and oversized glasses covered his face. He wore a simple blue t-shirt.

"It's not that scary, Mike went in yesterday and he's afraid of his own shadow." The redhead chimed. Was that supposed to be a joke? It was a very poor one.

"I heard they threw him over the fence." The blond replied.

"You can't throw a person over the fence, it's like ten feet high!" the brunette replied, getting immediately cut off by the teacher.

"Is there something you'd like to share with the class, boys?" She called as a warning.

"No Mrs. Butterfield." The boys called back in unison. Once Mrs. Butterfield had turned back around they continued their conversation, dropping their voices to very low whispers.

"I don't care. I'm not going into Arkham. If you want to see it so bad go in yourself." The blond was getting visibly annoyed.

"Not even for forty five dollars?"

"Make it fifty and _I'll_ go in." I chimed in, mostly to shut them up.

"I don't believe we invited you into the conversation, fly away bird brain." The redhead tried to make a joke again. They shifted their attention back to the blond. I actually had sympathy for the poor guy, he looked like he was about to crack under the pressure.

A thought popped in my head.

"What if I go in dressed as Robin?"

Attention was back on me.

Needless to say I spent my after school time rushing to finish up the costume I had put a lot of effort into, but that was okay. After I earned my fifty bucks, I could get the materials needed to fix up any mistakes and make it the best Robin costume ever.

I went over what I figured I'd need for my little escapade in Arkham. The blond did have a point, there could be bloodthirsty hobos hanging out in the dark corroders I'd definitely need some sort of weapon, and a light of somesort.

I slipped a couple of batarangs in my utility belt, courtesy of my epic metal working friend. They were basically just cut out of a sheet of metal, but who cared? If you threw them hard enough at someone they would leave some nasty cuts at least, and besides, what's a Robin costume without the batarangs? I also took a Swiss army knife, a flashlight, and jacked a can of pepper spray from my mom's purse.

As I finished my false note about going to a friends house, and set it on the table, I had the distinct urge to rip it up and forget about the bet. A new movie I had been dying to see had just arrived at the movie store up the street, I could spend the night watching movies. I ignored the urge and headed to the garage.

My bike sat in the corner of the garage. I went to pull it out, but noticed the tire was flat, an old rusty nail had been the culprit. Again the thought of staying home and catching up on some TV popped into my head. I shook the thought away and grabbed my sister's bike. This was going to be more fun than staying home and watching TV.

I practically flew down the streets to the old Arkham building where the blonde and redhead were waiting.

"You're late." The redhead said sounding a little annoyed.

"Yeah, well I'm here aren't I?" I huffed, setting my sister's bike up against the fence. "Alright, let's get this over with." I moved past the two boys.

"Wait wait wait." The redhead grabbed my arm. "We were told to see what you had on ya."

I rolled my eyes. "A flashlight, pepper spray, a Swiss army knife, and…" Something stopped me from bringing up the batarangs…

"And?" The redhead prodded.

"And where's your loser leader anyway?" I snapped.

"Oooh. Touchy touchy. He's running late, but no worries, he'll be here to see you run crying out of the building." He grinned.

The punk thought he was hot shit didn't he? Whatever. I turned on my heel, toward the gates.

"Not so fast." The redhead stopped me again. "Some of what you have on you sounds unneeded."

Crap.

"I'd say… leave the flashlight and pepper spray with us, you can keep your baby knife." He held out his hand.

I dropped the requested items into his palm. "I don't see what's so unneeded about the flashlight."

"Aww is the little baby afraid of the dark?" He laughed before turning to the blond. "You handle this, I can't be bothered with stupid flat chested little girls. I'll go see what's taking the boss so long." He smiled "We'll be back before the show begins though." He pocketed my items and walked down the street.

Who was he calling flat chested? … oh wait…

The blond walked up next to me and we began walking to the gates.

"Listen… uh…" He spoke kind of hushed and sounded a little nervous.

"Yeah?" I looked at him, he was about a head taller than me.

"Thanks… for… for earlier."

We stopped at the gates and I put my hand on one of the bars, resting my foot on the bottom part of the gate. "Forget about it. Your friends are real jerks, you know that?" The kid didn't really seem so bad. I pushed myself through to the other side of the gate.

"Hey." The blond stopped me. "Take this." He held out his hand, there sat a small black round… something… attached to a key ring.

"What is it?" I asked looking at it, then at him.

"It's an LED light, it's…uh… brighter than it looks." He sort of laughed.

I smiled. "Thanks, …"

"James."

I gave him one last smile, pocketing the little light and running towards the remains of the dilapidated building. I guess I couldn't go on referring to him as "the blond one" anymore.

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The inside of the building was a dump. Cracks ran up walls, the ceilings were falling in some places, bits of concrete littered the floors. A complete mess! I wound my way through until I could see no openings that had a direct view of the front gate and pulled the little LED light out of my pocket. I felt in the dark for the on switch, and flicked it… nothing… I shut it back off and gave it a shake before aiming the bulb end toward me and flicking it on again, sending blinding light into my eyes.

"GAH! My retinas!" I dropped the key chain and covered my eyes. I writhed for a few seconds, then after blinking most of the effects of the flash I picked the key chain back up. I sniffed. "James wasn't kidding. Now lets see here." I flashed the light around the hall. There was a set of double doors ahead of me, a little plaque on the wall next to them read; "Operating Theater."

Impressive, the signs were still in place. I moved towards the doors. What would I find inside? Operating tables? Electroshock machines? Operating equipment? Old files? A ghost maybe? It all sounded like a win to me. As I moved forward I heard a noise from the hall to my right. I flicked off the LED light and pressed my back against the wall.

My heart was pounding! I tried to reassure myself. This place had been empty forever. Well, a few years anyway. The place was virtually uninhabitable. It was probably a rat, or some old rusted screw finally gave way and dropped something. It could be any number of possibilities.

Was that a footstep?

I pulled out a batarang and my knife. Knife in left hand, batarang in right. I jumped out into the hall, throwing the batarang into the darkness and switching my knife from my left hand to my right, ready for someone to jump out of nowhere. I heard the batarang ricochet off of the concrete walls before clanging against the floor and sliding to a stop a few feet from that.

A frightened rat ran out of the dark hall and between my feet, I flipped around as it flew around the corner and its squeaks died away. I stood there in shock and confusion for what felt like minutes, but was probably only thirty seconds before letting out a nervous laugh. It had just been a rat after all.

A little shaken I re-pocketed my knife, no sooner had I done so, I felt a huge weight hit me from behind, sending me crashing to the ground and my head slamming into the concrete. The whole world started going black in spots, the black spots getting bigger, someone's laugh filling the air.

I woke up who knows how long later. I was hanging up side down, my head hurt so bad it was a wonder I could keep my eyes open. I tasted blood in my mouth and hurried to spit it out.

"Hhaaaa…haaa… vveeerrry…fuhnny…guys…" I slurred. "I demand… extra cash for thissss." Ugh, it felt like I had been hit by a bus… or two…

I tried to move my arm, but it was being held in place… and after trying the rest of my limbs, I realized that I was seriously trapped… … and those boys were seriously dead when I got down!

I saw a door open about ten feet in front of me, a man stood in the doorway.

"I didn't know the brats got allowance." A female said, I saw her silhouette walk up behind the guy.

"Neither did I." The guy said, flicking on the lights. He was white… and I mean WHITE… with dark green hair. He wore a purple suit, with a green vest and purple bow tie. His lips were dark red, and his nails black.

The woman behind him wore a red and black skintight jester's costume. She was practically hanging off the guy.

The guy walked forward. "So what do they pay sidekick bird boys anyway?"

"Chicken feed." I snapped, the pain in my head ebbing away. This wasn't looking good for me… this is probably why the brunette boy was late, bribing these two clowns… haha clowns… into kidnapping me. Besides didn't the no-soul redhead say something about coming back before "the show" started.

"Look," I sighed. "I'm only being paid fifty dollars, but if you let me down it's all yours. Deal?"

The man laughed, that strange creepy laugh I had heard before I passed out. "Fifty? I was sure old Brucy could pay more than that."

… why were we talking about Bruce's pocket change?…

The man walked up to me and leaned close enough that I could smell his disgusting breath. "I think you should have stuck to playing superhero in the back yard kid. This is no place for a rank amateur let alone a _girl_."

I don't know why that hit me so hard, but it did. He turned away from me and began walking toward the door.

"Yeah?" I snarled "Well I think you should have stuck to playing Rodeo Clown, Bozo!" He froze in his tracks and I grinned. I hit a nerve with that one it seemed.

He turned to face me. The look on his face said… that I was probably going to get the hell beaten out of me. He reached over to a lever that was attached to the console next to him. Was he going to let me go?

His voice turned sinister. "I make the jokes around here!" He flipped the switch and electricity surged through me. It felt like it was burning me from the inside out. I pulled against the restraints, and after what felt like forever it quit.

The clown looked down at me a minute, he seemed calmer. "That should keep you quiet." He grumbled, leaving the room and slamming the door behind him.

I was shaking, pretty violently. I could feel the sweat slide down my face, my heart pounding a million miles an hour. The guy was insane, and this whole situation was definitely more serious than I took it to be a few minutes ago. I felt like I was going to be sick, and being strung upside-down wasn't helping. I felt pretty bad. But what I didn't know…

… was that it was going to get a lot worse…

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So I've started re-writing the story... Sad to say... the... er... next (few?) chapters aren't going to match up with this one until I get them rewritten. Just bear with me and I'll get the rewrite up ASAP. I hope you enjoyed it anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Here it is. =D Finally!

I do not own batman

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As soon as I had gotten over the effects of almost having my internal organs fried I set to work trying to free myself. It took a few minutes, and a lot of effort, but I was able to slip my right hand out of its restraint. I didn't think I'd be able to pull the same stunt with my other hand… but that was okay, I only needed one.

Because of time issues, I had to pin my gloves in place on my costume, which proved to be very beneficial to me. I pulled one of the pins out, it was a fairly long one, that was good. I jammed it into the lock holding my left hand and twisted it around a bit.

Lock picking isn't as easy as the cartoons make it out to be. When I was little, I was one of those kids who would stop at nothing to get what I wanted. And sometimes, what I wanted was locked away in my parents bedroom. Lets just say, I've had a lot of years perfecting my lock picking skills.

… which weren't that perfect. The pin broke.

"Shit." I cursed, throwing the broken pin on the ground. I decided to attempt pulling my wrist out of its hold and trying again with a pin on the restraints holding my legs. After some more cursing both my hands were free. I pulled another pin from my glove, and not worrying about the torso restraint at the moment, set to work on the ones holding my ankles. I sincerely wished I had a hair pin… note to self… pack hairpins from now on. I got one ankle free, but right as I did… I heard someone at the door.

I flopped back against the upside down table I was on and tried to slip my wrists back in their restraints… I couldn't quite get them back through… actually nowhere close… but if I could keep him distracted…

The clown walked in.

"Oh look Bozo's back." I gave the best condescending laugh I could, despite myself. Maybe I could piss him off, go through another shock… as much as I hated to think about it… and that would buy me enough time to escape.

The clown just smiled, closing an eye and waving a finger at me. "Ah ah, none of that today." He walked toward me, pulling a syringe out from behind his back. When he got about a foot away from me he kneeled down to my level… and paused… "What's this? …" He turned his attention to my left arm restraint. Not good. I quickly slipped my right hand out and swung towards his face.

He caught it.

"Very clever." He laughed. My blood turned to ice. He still held the Syringe up in his own left hand. I only had seconds probably. I slipped my right hand free and lunged for the syringe, snatching it away before he could block me.

… lapse in thought… I got the syringe away… but I had no way to get it farther away, or me for that matter.

Needless to say, I was easily re-restrained… and had the syringe taken away before I could do anything with it.

"That was a nice try. But I'm afraid you're out of your league Jonesie. This isn't playground bullies you're dealing with." His tone was sort of reprimanding and condescending at the same time.

Wait, did he call me Jonesie? "How do you know my name?" Did I tell it to him sometime between the shock and now? … no…

"Oh we know a lot about you." He grinned, enjoying my discomfort most likely. "But I'm afraid I can't go giving the plot away this early." He waved a finger at me. "Spoilers make the story less exciting."

I eyed the shining needle on the syringe… I really didn't want to find out what was inside. "Uh… uhm… Wait, if you know who I am, you can just let me go. No harm no foul. I won't even tell anyone what happened." I pleaded.

"'fraid not kid, you should have thought about all that before you came in here." … his tone then changed from monotone to cheerful. "But that's okay, we're going to play a little game." He waved the syringe. I started pulling against the restraints. Was he going to kill me? Was it a poison? Was I going to end up freaky like him?

I felt the needle pierce my skin. Whatever was in the syringe quickly spread through my veins. It burned. Then everything in my vision turned a darker shade. I started seeing things...shadows… creatures… leaping from the corners, coming close… I sensed they wanted to kill me… then they'd jump back… taunting! I heard a horrible laugh, it echoed around the room, the creatures echoed the noise.

The paranoia the serum caused was severe. I pulled at my restraints, desperate to get away. Screams pierced the air, like someone was being murdered. The shadow creatures made gargling noises that sounded sort of like laughter. I don't think I had ever been so scared in my life.

Eventually the noises and shadows faded away, and everything returned to it's former state. The screams I realized, had come from me, and I had pulled on the restraints so hard that I left deep cuts in my skin.

"Hmm..." The madman said walking around me. "That didn't last as long as I thought it would... I think my concoctions are becoming a little old... HARLEY!" He called, whirling around and exiting the room.

Alone, in that room... I was scared. More frightened than I had ever been in my life. The blood trickled down my arms. I knew that the cuts from the restraints must hurt, but I didn't care. I was afraid of what this madman would do to me next. And that fear, the shocks, and the serums tore away at me until I was sane no more.

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Sorry, kind of short. =3 I'll work on the next chapt soon.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I do not own Batman or the characters. =3 I do own Rebecca.

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"Robin! Robin!" I heard my mom call from downstairs.

I smiled. "Coming!" I closed my book and set it on the table beside my bed. I raced downstairs. Mom was standing in the kitchen doorway, dad and my sister sitting at the table. The smell of my mom's special Winter Soup in the air. It smelled like heaven.

I looked at my mom, she was smiling. … but then… her smile changed. It became twisted… her teeth pointed. I looked over at the table… My dad and sister looked the same too. This horrible, low, inhuman cackle came out of their mouths. I looked back at mom, who had come closer to me.

"M…mom? Wh…what are you doing?" I squeaked.

She opened her mouth a little bit, teeth…erm… fangs glistening. "Don't worry sweetie, it will be over soon." And she lunged.

I screamed, my eyes opening to complete darkness, straps holding my arms down.

"Happened again Mr. J" That lady… person… I think she said she's called Harley… said. And as she said…sort of… this wasn't the first time this has happened.

The door opened.

"Good morning." Mr. J said.

"Morning, tick tick tick tick tick tick…" I said… was it morning?

"Do you know how long it's been?" He asked.

"Tick tick tick tick tick tick…" I make that noise so he knows I'm awake and so I won't get shocked while I think things. "…tick tick twelve… fifteen days?"

"Very good Rebecca." He sounded happy… Rebecca? …

"Tick tick tick tick tick tick…" My name? yes I'm Rebecca… but I'm no good… I'm an it… I don't get my name because I'm bad, and until I'm good like a person should be I don't get my name. "...tick tick tick tick tick tick."

"Oh can I tell her Mr. J! Can I?" Harley said in a happy voice. I didn't catch what they said before that… if they said something… gotta pay attention or I get shocked…  
"Of course." he said back "Rebecca?" he called towards me.

"...Tick tick tick ti- yes?" I forgot I was ticking…

"Since you've been so good for us. We have a little surprise for you." He said.

"Sur…surprise?" I started to get all shaky feeling. Had I been bad? Was I going to get shocked? "I'm a bad kid. I've never been good. I'm worthless, stupid. Undeserving, selfish…" I had had to say these for the last… tick tick… four and a… tick tick… half days. The first day I didn't want to… but I got punished… because I was being bad… like I always am. Pay attention!

"...tick tick tick tick." I didn't know I was still ticking.

"No no." Mr. J laughed. "You've been good. So good that we're doing something just for you." I heard the sound of him moving his arm… the almost silent swish of fabric… he pointed toward the wall that was somewhere in front of me. I was in the dark or bright very often… so I had to listen for sounds to tell what was happening. Like if I was going to be shocked, I'd hear sounds to the front right. About… tick tick… 10 feet away… tick tick I think… it was always too bright or to dark to see the room.

The lights were on. I didn't see them go on… it's bad to not pay attention… I could have missed something… and I might get shocked… I was quiet now….

Mr. J was standing next to the table. His face was white… like the bright light that came on once and a while when all I could see was white. His eyes had black around them… his hair was smoothed back, and looked black but if you looked hard enough you could tell it was green. He had a big smile on his face and his lips were colored red. He had a purple jacket, green shirt, purple bow, and purple pants.

Someone bounced up and stood next to him… it must have been Harley. Her face was white too and she had a black mask on. Her hat was like a jester's hat and was black and red with little white poofs at the ends. In fact her whole costume was black and red.

"We're going outside today!" Harley smiled. She looked happy. I thought about green grass, blue sky… it made me happy too.

"Only if you want to." Mr. J said, looking at me. "Do you? If you don't decide quickly we won't get to go."

"Yes!" I said quick. Was that the right choice? Yes. It's better to answer and then think about whether it was right, I get shocked a lot less.

Harley and Mr. J started undoing the straps holding me to the table. I was used to this, I was let down a couple of times a day to go to the bathroom… but that was pretty much it… and they usually covered my eyes and only let me see before I was pushed into the bathroom... so I never got to see them.

"We have to be quiet." Harley said, helping me down. I saw Mr. J walk ahead of us. We followed him out the door. The room outside mine was huge, and had cardboard walls up... it looked almost like a real kitchen. There was even a table. But we didn't stay. We left the big room and entered into the hall.

I started feeling shaky. Where were we going? They said outside...

"Tick tick tick tick ti-" Mr. J turned his head towards me… I shut up.

"Now none of that." Harley whispered as Mr. J resumed walking. "We're going to have fun." She smiled. But I still felt shaky. I recognized a few halls, one's I had raced through more than two weeks ago… and a hole in the floor that looked like it went on forever. I moved closer to Harley. What if I had fallen down it two weeks ago? Would I be dead now? We took a few turns, some had holes in the floors, some didn't. Soon Mr. J came to a door and opened it. Bright flooded inside. We walked through the door. It was still early... or getting dark... I wasn't sure anymore.

The big gate with "Arkham" over it wasn't in front of us. So we must have been around the back.

"This way." Mr. J said. He walked ahead of us, and I noticed there was a drop… like a cliff. We followed, very carefully. Mr. J started to climb down, it didn't look very far to the bottom, and there was lots of grass there, and bushes.

"Go on." Harley pushed me forward. I started climbing down too. Harley started climbing down after me. It wasn't a hard climb down... but it seemed to take forever.  
Something deep inside of me… deep inside my brain… said; 'This is too easy, no wonder all those nut jobs escaped.'

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Hope you enjoyed that =3 it was fun to write. I've never destroyed a character mentally before. I had to go and delete sentences a couple of times because they were too comprehensible for her current mental state. Anyway, tell me what you think =3


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I do not own Batman or the characters. =3 I do own Rebecca.

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Chapter 4

We sat on the grass next to a bush. Harley and Mr. J seemed to be thinking of something other than me. So I laid on the grass. I didn't feel good… mostly I felt sad. But I stayed quiet, if I cried or made any loud noises I'd be in trouble.

After a few minutes Harley got up and hurried back up the cliff. I shivered a little bit. I really just wanted to go back inside. I didn't feel safe outside. It wasn't safe outside. It was better inside, in my small room. Always dark and quiet… out here there were too many sounds… birds… squirrels…cars…

"Rebecca!" I looked at Mr. J, I hadn't been paying attention.

I looked at him silently. He frowned… I thought I was in trouble… "Come on." He said. "We're leaving." He said, standing up and walking past me.

I didn't move, I was thinking… what about Harley? Mr. J turned around and raised an eyebrow at me. "WELL?!"

I got up quick and ran up next to him. "Sorry…Mr. J" I said quiet. Then I looked at him, to make sure I hadn't done anything bad. He didn't look at me. I didn't know if that was good or bad.

We walked for a long time. Sometimes when I felt shaky I'd start ticking again, very quietly. But I always watched Mr. J, so that I could tell if I needed to shut up. I wasn't paying attention when I first started to tick while we were walking, and he hit me. So I made sure to watch him if I started ticking after that.

It was getting dark and we were walking around the back of a bunch of buildings. People wearing big coats were laying down on the ground. Mr. J stopped at a tall red brick building and opened the door. Some of the people on the ground started moving so I hurried after him.

The building didn't look very big. It had a room the size of mine at Arkham and then a staircase to the right of that. I saw Mr. J walking upstairs, and I didn't want to be left alone so I followed.

Upstairs was a little smaller than downstairs. Upstairs had a table with blue papers rolled up on it. On the wall was a little clock. It said "Tick tick tick tick." It made me feel better…. Mr. J sat at the table, he unrolled one of the blue papers and started writing.

"Tick tick tick tick." I said quiet so that Mr. J couldn't here me over the clock. After a few minutes Mr. J froze… I was worried that maybe I did something bad… maybe I was too loud again. He turned his head and raised his eyebrow.

"What are you doing up here?" He asked. He didn't sound mad. But I wasn't sure, so I got up and went to the stairs. The door at the bottom opened and I jumped backwards.  
"Tick tick ti-"  
"Puddin'! I'm back!" Harley said. "And I brought dinner!" I smiled. It was Harley. She wasn't stuck behind!

I heard Mr. J walk up behind me. He put his arm around my shoulders. I was afraid he might push me and send me falling on the stairs. I tried to think of what I did bad. But I couldn't think of anything.

He gave a little push on my shoulders and I started walking downstairs. I looked up at him. He didn't look mad…

"Lets eat shall we?"

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The food was good. I felt better after I ate. Better than I had in 15 days. It looked like there was enough food to feed me until I was full. And they were being really nice to me.

"So what do you miss from home?" Mr. J asked.

Before I could think… I said "Dog." … yes… I had a dog… before my family moved to Gotham. … I thought about my mom, dad, sister, friends… but none of them came looking for me… none of them cared I was gone… none of them loved me. I felt a tear in the corner of my eye but wiped it away before Mr. J noticed.

I noticed Harley was gone.

"M-Mr. J?" I squeaked. "Where'd Harley go?"

He smiled back at me. I started shaking. "No need to worry. You've been so good we've decided to give you a little surprise." He said calmly "After all it's not really your fault you've been so bad all this time."

It wasn't? I was going to say something, but the door behind him opened and two animals bounced in with Harley behind them.

The animals were… hyenas! I backed away. What did I do wrong? Were they going to let them attack me? I put my arms around my head to protect myself when they jumped at me… I felt someone grab my hand and unwrapped it from my head. It was Harley.

"Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick ti-"

"It's okay" She smiled. Holding my hand out toward the hyenas. I thought they would bite, they laughed. Their teeth were sharp… then… they licked my hand. They started jumping a little and bouncing and circling around me. I felt Harley let go of my wrist. One of the Hyenas knocked me over and they both started licking my face. I calmed down a little, and reached my hand up and pet one of them. I sat up. They weren't mean at all. I remembered my dog, from before we came to Gotham. He was like these two, jumping around, licking hands and faces. And I was happy. And I looked at Mr. J and Harley… and they looked happy. They weren't mad at me. And I wasn't going to be punished. And they were being nice. And I had to do something nice back for them making me so happy. And I was tired.

Harley let me sleep on a couch. The hyenas jumped up and laid on top of me and kept me warm. I fell asleep quickly.

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I slept a long time. I'd say a good twelve to fifteen hours. I wasn't paying attention to when I fell asleep. My brain felt like it was working a lot better. And I thought maybe I had dreamed everything. Until I saw the hyenas laying on top of me. The one nearest to my face licked me. I pet it on the head before shooing them both off of me.

I sat up and thought a little bit about the night before. Mr. J had said something about me being bad not being my fault. I'd have to ask him about that. I sat up, closing my eyes, and listened. It didn't sound like anyone was moving in the house, besides the hyenas… I wondered if no one was home.

Run Whispered a little voice in the back of my head. I paused.

Run? Why should I? I'd be stuck with no one if I left now… Tears burned my eyes… and I pushed the thought away. I walked up the stairs at the other end of the room. I saw Mr. J at the table. I wondered if he was sleeping or not… he didn't seem to be moving past breathing. Maybe he was thinking? I could always ask my questions later I guess. I turned to walk back downstairs.

"Yes? What is it?" Mr. J's voice almost sent me falling down the stairs.

"Tick tick tick tick tick ti-" I took a deep breath. "I-I uh… question?" I squeaked.

He raised an eyebrow. "Go on, no need to be afraid here."

I made little ticking noises as quietly as I could until I calmed down. "You said that me being bad wasn't my fault?"

He perked up at that point. I was afraid for a minute.

"Ah yes! I was hoping you had been paying attention when I said that." He smiled. "I know we've lead you to believe that you were bad this whole time. But we had to do it." He frowned "If there was another way we would have done that instead. You see we had to break you of Gotham's thought pattern."

I gave him a quizzical look.

"You see…" He went on "Gotham is currently one big cesspool, and I'm sure you don't want to be part of that do you?"

I shook my head.

"Right. And do you know why Gotham is a cesspool?"

I shook my head again.

"Batman."

I opened my mouth to say something, but shut it again. I thought Batman was cleaning up crime. I had to pay attention!

"You see." Mr. J continued. "If the Bat weren't around, I wouldn't be around… and you'd be at home, going to school… like every other day."

I stared at the floor. Could that really be Batman's fault? I thought he was wiping out crime… then again… when had Mr. J lied to me? Certainly not about my parents not looking for me. Or I'd be at home now…

"So you see… we're sorry for all the bad things we did to you. But we had to do it." He sounded sincere. "but, I suppose it's your choice now. Do you want to stay with us… or go back?" He looked disappointed.

I stared at down at my shoes. Go back… to what? My mom… my dad… my sister… my friends… those… those… I couldn't say it… they didn't even come looking for me. How could I go back to people who didn't care if I were gone or not. And what if Batman was really causing all the problems in Gotham? And I had to repay Mr. J and Harley… and I'm sure the Hyenas would miss me…

"I'm staying." I said, looking into Mr. J's eyes. "Just tell me what I have to do." He smiled.

"Of course." He stood up "Now all we have to do is wait for Harl-" at that moment the door opened.

"Mista- J! I'm home! And I got news for ya!" Harley said bounding up the stairs.

"Ah speak of the devil." Mr. J grinned. "What is it?"

"They're rebuilding Arkham Mista J! I ran in an' got a few things. Don't worry I wasn't followed. Not a soul saw me!" I noticed the bags in her hand. A few things inside each.

Mr. J took a minute to muse over what she said. "Right, well, we'll worry about that later. Rebecca has decided to help us. I'll need you to handle that. I assume you got it." He said.

"Of course Mr. J! Got the costume and all the little bat-toys that go with it!" She smiled. "Come along." She said, grabbing my wrist and dragging me downstairs. I had a feeling things were going to get a lot better.

* * *

Chapter 4 finally up! =3 took me a while to write this one! Kind of a long chapter. n.n hope you liked it.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It had been late fall when I met Mr. J and Harley. Now it was nearing spring... or mid spring... there was still a little snow around, and some ice, but it was okay. I only slipped off a roof twice during the winter... okay maybe four times... but Harley said it only counts if your feet leave the roof.

I wore a Robin outfit... not my home-made one by any means. This one was sturdy... I was sure I could fall onto a knife and not get hurt, but as if I was really going to try. It came with a real utility belt. It held batarangs, the real things of course. I can't tell you how many slit-like holes are in the bricks at home now. My home... third home actually... my first home was with my parents... my second, for a brief time, was in Arkham... and my third home was a small two-story brick building in the in a small-er part of Gotham with Mr. J and Harley. It felt more like home than anywhere else. The first night Harley took me out to train she insisted that she first cut my shoulder length hair. Some would say it was butchered, a messy boy-cut, but I loved it. It was the same messy cut as Batman's right hand partner. And despite how much I loathed the Bat now... I couldn't help but to still like the bird boy. Old habits die hard and all.

Training was pretty easy. After a few months I could do flips and escape quickly, up walls... down alleys... hop over things... dodge. I wasn't as good as Harley, but I was good enough. We pulled off a couple of heists... hey, how else are we supposed to get money? I can just see it... Harley goes into the bank. "Hi, I'm Harleen Quinzel. I'd like to withdraw some cash." Yeah, see if she doesn't get picked up instantly. I'm still anonymous, so I'm the one who buys the groceries. I wouldn't leave Mr. J or Harley for nuthin', and I know they would do the same. I had learned a lot about science and engineering with Mr. J. Probably more than some people learn in College even. I was able to make a variety of different things... I had personally been working on Laughing gas. I could also learn how something worked by reverse engineering. It comes in handy.

Well, now that I've filled you in on the last couple of moths... lets look at today. Today Mr. J and Harley decided that education is good for children my age. And now I'm walking to my school... I wonder if those kids will still give me my fifty bucks. I smirked. No matter if they did or didn't, fifty was nothing. I pushed open the double doors of the familiar building, and worked my way to the office. Nothing had changed, I wasn't very surprised. I leaned over the counter in the office and waited for one of the office personell to pay attention.

"Can I help you?" A black haired woman said to me... I had seen her before, but her name escaped me. She looked up from her paperwork and nearly jumped back a foot.

"Yes... you can help me." I said as if nothing abnormal had happened. I need my schedule, I've been absent for the past few months... do you have it? She did her best to compose herself.

"Uh... y-yeah... name please?"

"Robin Rebecca." She scribbled it down quickly.

"Jones?"

I nearly growled. But now was not the time to start ranting or anything. "Yes." I nearly spat.

"Yes... uh..." She clicked and scrolled on her computer... and within minutes the printer whirred to life and out popped a single sheet with my name on the top. "Here." She said handing it to me

"Thanks." I hurried off to my first class... I could hear her pick up the phone as I turned the corner. As I walked down the hall I placed some pink, chewed gum with a bottle cap in the center looking devices on the walls. When I opened the door to my classroom everyone froze. The teacher looked a little shaken. She was one I had had earlier in the year... and most of the kids were disinterested, for all they knew I moved to France and came back. The kids I had truely known were staring at me wide eyed. Including two of the boys who had sent me into Arkham... I really should thank them. And there, on the other side of the room, sat my now ex-best friend... next to an empty seat too. How convenient.

The teacher started lecturing and I felt a notebook brush my hand before stopping in front of me.

_Where have you been? We've been worried sick!_

I scribbled back.

_Why do you care?_

I passed it back.

_Because we've turned all of Gotham upside down! We thought you were dead! Do you even care how worried we've been?_

_If it was genuine I might care._

_What are you talking about?_

I_f you had really been searching you would have found me._

_Well we didn't! Where were you?_

_With my new family._

_New family?_

I was about to write back when the intercom turned on. "Rebecca Jones is needed in the Office." Came a woman's voice... not the one who had been at the desk. I shrugged, quickly planting a gummy device under my desk before walking out. That was quicker than expected... I was hoping to get to lunch... but people work quick when they don't think they have a lot of time.

When I got to the office the lady at the desk had been replaced. A little freaked out was she? I went up to the new office assistant and asked her where I needed to go. While doing so I stuck one of my little gummies under her desk too. She pointed me through a door to the right... and all along the hall I planted my little explosives. When I got to the room she had directed me to. I still had a bag full of my little bombs in my backpack... so I set it outside the door. I took the biggest one... which was also the detonator for the rest of them... with me and went inside.

Inside sat the councilor... some people from... I assume Social Cervices... and the Principal. I pocketed the bomb... let's just see how this plays out before we make any rash decisions.

"Please, sit down Rebecca." The councilor said. I did. "We'd like to talk to you... as you're... uhm... aware, we've been wondering where you've been all this time."

I didn't say anything.

"Do you mind telling us?" One of the Social Cervices people asked calmly.

"I've been with my family." I responded simply, smirking.

"Really?" Asked the principal. "Because your family filed a missing person's report... a little over four months ago." He pushed a packet of paper in-front of me.

"Good for them. They aren't my family." I pushed the papers back.

"You know," Said the other Social Cervices worker. "Kidnapped children have been known to develop Stockholm Syndrome, and they consider their captors a sort of family."

I leaned back and rolled my eyes.

"We just want to help you." My councilor said. "Can you tell us where they are now?"

"Uhm..." I sighed. "At home probably. And if you really want to help... you'll let me go back to class."

"Where is this 'home'?" Another person asked... I didn't even bother to place who had spoken.

"In Gotham." I could feel the tension rise, and couldn't help but laugh.

"Your parents would like to speak to you. We called them, they'll be here shortly." The principal responded seriously.

"How sweet... hoping for a happy family reunion?" I chuckled. "Mommy! I missed you! Those bad people were so mean to me! I never want to leave the house again!" I mocked. "Forget this! I'm out of here." I got out of my chair.

"No! We can't let you leave yet." Everyone else started out of their chairs. I pulled the detonator out of my pocket.

"I beg to differ." I smirked, hurling it at the ground. Instantly a huge puff of purple smoke filled the room. Everyone froze and in the... for lack of a better term... confusion... I hurled myself out the... er... third story window.

Nice going, me...

I flipped myself around as quickly as I could, pulled the little gun I'd been hiding in my back pocket out, shot it at the roof, and prayed. I heard a soft -chink- and the gun was almost yanked from my hands. It hooked! I pulled myself together and pulled the trigger again, which started pulling me up toward the busted window, which was overflowing purple smoke. I heard hysterical laughter coming from inside, and from a few rooms down too.

When I reached the roof I pulled myself up, folded down the hook and locked it it in the gun again before putting it back in my pocket. And thought carefully before jumping off the building this time.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It took me a while to get home. I hopped along the rooftops for a while, but figuring that would garner too much attention I dropped down to street level after a block or two. It took me about half an hour... to an hour to get back home, and when I opened the door I could hear Mr. J and Harley arguing.

"I've told you time and again Harley!" Mr. J yelled from upstairs.

"Now Mr. J... Jus' calm down a second." Harley said.

I Walked up stairs.

"What have I told you?" He asked backing her into a corner.

"That when Mr. smiley isn't happy, someone gets thrown out of a second story window." I said interrupting Mr. J

They got into fights like this often... I know Harley could easily dodge him and get out of the way... but she wasn't one to do anything to Mr. J let alone dodge him.

"What was that?" Mr. J asked turning towards me.

"That if you need a joke explained to you...you turn childish and have to hurt someone..." Perfect. I got all his attention directed toward me. Now some of you might see this as a very bad thing. Can't say I totally blame you for that.

Mr. J came closer, and I backed away... into the corner. I don't like being in corners... it bugs me... I placed my right foot against the wall as Mr. J came closer. When he came close enough I pushed up and launched myself over his head.

I thought I was clear, but I felt a tug on my pant-leg and before I could register what was going on my back smashed into the wall and the air rushed out of my lungs. I slipped down to the floor and tried to catch my breath as Mr. J -now a little bit over whatever was bothering him- turned and walked away.

Mr. J isn't mean... he gets frustrated sometimes, like everyone, and loses his temper once in a while... like everyone. Honestly, as far as me being slammed into the wall, I pretty much asked for it... I consider it extra training. If I can dodge Mr. J... I can dodge Batman.

"Rebecca!" Mr. J was stooped down to my level... oops... I really need to pay attention... I could get in trouble if I didn't!  
"Hmm? What?" I asked.  
"You haven't gotten up yet." Mr. J said a tinge of concern in his voice.  
"Mm? Oh right... Sorry... it's just been a long day that's all." I said simply.  
"But it's not even noon yet."  
"Exactly." I stood up and walked over to the TV. "Lets see if the news has gotten a hold of it yet." I pressed the power button and the TV flickered to life.

_"People have already evacuated the building."_ Some woman said. She was standing in front of the school, which still had a purple haze around it. _"Those who were in the middle of the explosion have been overcome with bouts of laughter. People are being warned to stay away from the purple smoke pouring from the building."_

"Laughing gas?" Mr. J asked. "I don't remember that being part of the plan."

"I don't remember there being a plan. Remember? No one told me why I was going back to school."

"Yes well-" Mr. J started, his attention slipping to the TV. I followed his gaze.

They had a picture of me!

_"If you have seen this girl we ask that you please contact the police right away. She's dangerous and probably armed."_

I looked at Mr. J. Crap crap crap! This was very bad news. Like thrown out the window sort of bad news. I shifted in the chair, putting a foot under me in case I had to make a run for it. Unlike Harley I tended to run for my life if Mr. J was mad at me.

"Well." I laughed nervously "They don't have a recent picture of me... that one still has my long hair." I looked over at Mr. J and Harley... but I was the only one who was worried.

Mr. J flicked off the TV. "It doesn't matter." He said, cheerful as ever. "We've got a big plan for tonight."

"We do?" I asked, completely forgetting my yet unanswered question. I was just glad I wasn't going to be pummeled.

"Yeah!" Harley jumped in "Didn't cha get the note I sent ta school with ya?" She smiled.

"N-note?" Uh-oh...

"See Mistah J I told ya she'd... What?"

"HARLEY!" Mr. J Roared.

"Wait wait! Where'd ya put it?" I panicked checking my pockets.

"In yer backpack."Harley said a little sadness tinging her voice. I could tell Mr. J was getting madder.

"Then they won't find it." I said quickly. They looked at me in disbelief... which is fine, because I hardly believed what I said. "I still had a lot of bombs in my backpack... it should have been destroyed when I set them all off." Mr. J still looked mad, but not so much.

I prayed that the note was actually destroyed. It would probably be bad news if it was found. I pushed the thought aside quickly. It would do no good festering over it unless I went out after it.

"Where are you going?" Mr. J said, snapping me out of my thoughts... I was already half way down the stairs.

"Uh..." What was wrong with me? I'm slipping up bad! "I'm going to sleep a while, after all we do have a heist." Or whatever we were doing. Mr. J didn't say anything more, so I assumed I was in the clear... I walked the rest of the way down the stairs and crashed on the couch.

I put my arm over my eyes and listened to the conversation upstairs.

"She's acting odd." I heard Mr. J say in a suspicious voice. "You don't suppose-" He was cut off by Harley.

"No worries Mista J, she ain't gonna leave us for nobody. She's just tired that's all."

and then I passed out.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Everything was dark... even with my vision... it was pitch black. I didn't know where I was, though I could hear footsteps and the swish of fabric. I was scared. I called out...  
"HARLEY! MR.J! HELP!" But there was nothing. The sound of footsteps came closer.

Where were Harley and Mr. J? They... they would never abandon me right?

"...Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick..." I was ticking fast... though Mr. J and Harley had taught me how to tick slow... but in this case I couldn't see and something was after me... and I didn't have Mr. J or Harley around... I was to scared to worry about how fast or slow I ticked.

Someone grabbed my shoulders.

I was too scared to scream.

"Rebecca... Rebecca... Wake up..." A man's voice I didn't recognize said...

then it turned female

"Rebecca, Rebecca! Wake up!" It was Harley. I nearly screamed, but quickly realized where I was and calmed down. "Wha-what is it?" I said, not hiding the shock of my dream very well.

Harley didn't seem to notice. "It's almost time to go." She said. I needed no further explanation. I ran into the next room where my costume was and put it on. I put my mask over my eyes and ruffled my hair, making it look a perfect kind of messy before I raced out after Harley and Mr. J.

I was surprised Mr. J was coming with us. Unusual but not totally unheard of. He seemed almost giddy with excitement. I smiled, my nightmare forgotten, there was no way this night could go wrong.

We ascended up a fire escape a few blocks away and hopped rooftop to rooftop toward the destination unknown to me. We slowed as we came toward a fairly big building. It wasn't a bank... actually I wasn't sure what it was... but it obviously had to have something valuable or of use to us. We grappled up to it's roof.

"What's the plan Mista J?" Harley asked. I crouched on the edge of the rooftop, staring down at the streets below. Was it just me, or were there a lot of cars just hanging around down there.

"Rebecca!" Harley called, I stepped away from the ledge. "What we're after is on the second floor down. Think you can get us there?" She smiled, knowing full well I could.

"No problem." I smiled, pulling a little device from my utility belt. They were small but powerful bombs, they had actually come with the belt... but I had long since used up the originals. I took one of the original ones and reverse engineered it to learn how to make more... All the ones I had now were made by me.

The roof under our feet exploded, and we had to jump back so that we wouldn't fall in the hole. At this point, we had to work fast, no doubt someone was alarmed by the sound, if not the gaping hole in the roof. I tossed another bomb to the floor below and it instantly went off.

I dropped down through the dust cloud, followed shortly by Harley. We stood in the middle of the cloud, waiting for it to clear so we wouldn't run into a wall or something stupid. When the dust finally cleared, instead of finding an empty hall, we found a couple dozen guns pointed towards us.

I was the first to break the silence "uh..." Articulate as always...

"MISTA J! WE GOT A SITUATION!" Harley called up. We didn't have time for this! We could get shot. I grabbed her wrist, pulled out my grappling hook, jumped, and fired.

Had we been a second slower we would have been Swiss cheese, gunfire filled the air in seconds. The problem... I got us to the top floor... but not the roof... and there were people coming up stairs, and people aiming up through the hole.

"Mister J!" I called up in a panic.

"What is it?" he asked impatiently.

"We've got a-" I was cut off as the door to the stairs was kicked open.

Harley pulled on of her acrobatic stunts, easily making it out of the hole in the roof. "Hurry!" She called, before she ran off.

"Freeze! Robin!"

I spun around. There were maybe four officers, and commissioner Gordon. Gordon didn't look as ready to fire as everyone else, he looked a little... disappointed. He spoke.

"Robin... I'm very disappointed in you... " He held his hand up... ready to snap? To signal to fire? To surrender? I had a fraction of a second to decide my next move. Fight, flee, or surrender.

Without really thinking. I turned away from the officers and leapt for my life. Catching the edge of the hole in the roof. I could feel the building material crumble under my hands. I heard guns cock behind me. I hoisted myself up into a handstand, the piece of roof cracking under my weight. I got my feet out of the way just as bullets started whizzing past. I pushed myself up and away just as the spot I was holding on to crumbled away. I didn't stick around any longer. I looked around, catching my breath, and I found them. Harley and Mr. J. I raced over to them.

Mr. J was livid. "How did this happen?"  
"Dunno Mista J." Harley said sadly. "They musta known we was-"  
"Of course they knew! I'm asking HOW!"  
"Can we please save this for home!" I jumped in. "They'll be up here in seconds!" And of course I was right...

Though by the time they broke through the roof door... we were safely on another building. I sat in the shadows watching as Mr. J and Harley argued. Harley was crying... I focused my attention back to the roof of the other building.

Police with guns circled around checking every nook and cranny of the roof top... they were starting to realize we were no longer there, and would be back on our trail shortly.

"Forget it. Lets go." Mr. J broke my train of thought. I sat there for another minute, sighed, and turned to follow them. They were a rooftop away when I had stood up, but they knew I was coming, and there was no big rush anyway. I walked slowly after them, and as I passed the door leading down into the building I was on... I saw something move out of the corner of my eye.

It wasn't a big movement, maybe a cat... maybe. I whipped out three batarangs. I tossed the first one at a small crate, it made a significantly loud thud. Something that would scare a cat out of hiding.

I walked forward silently. Prying my batarang out of the wood. I heard the swish of fabric behind me, saw a shadow... I placed my hand on the wood crate and threw myself into a one-handed handstand, throwing myself in the air and turning before I landed safely on the other side of the crate. I held my three batarangs at the ready.

... did some joker put up a mirror to confuse me? The person standing across from me, looked just like me... but I couldn't see the person's face and everything was identical, my only tip that told me I wasn't looking at a reflection was that the other me was holding the batarangs in the same hand I was, which meant we weren't an exact mirror image.

"Who are you... show yourself properly!" I called towards him, keeping my batarangs at the ready.  
"You first." Well it was definitely a boy... or a girl with an unfortunate voice.  
"Fine, we'll step into the light at the same time. Alright?" I lowered my batarangs a little. "Weapons down first."

We were both reluctant about it... I lowered my weapons before he did... and we both stepped into better lighting.  
I stood in shock, but he didn't seem all to surprised... just angry.  
It was Robin... I mean the REAL Robin! My mind raced.

Robin... Mr. J and Harley said something about him... about him... being taken... maybe dead? Maybe... this was a different Robin...

"Jay-jay." I whispered... hardly without me realizing. Recognition lept to his eyes. It was him! It was really him! We had to get him back, back home with me, Harley, and Mr. J... There were about fifty things I wanted to say... but everything in my head was so jumbled I couldn't get one out.

He beat me to saying something.

"Why are you framing me?" He asked in an angry tone. I was taken by surprise... how was I supposed to respond to that?

"Well, you see...I mean I..." Mr. J would kill me for not getting to the point like I was doing now. Pull it together!

"Who are you?" He asked, giving up on the first question.

"Robin." I responded curtly.

"What's your real name!" He stepped towards me.

"That Is My-" Something wasn't right... and staying still trying to figure it out was never a good plan. I did a cartwheel to my right, turned a little, and did a back handspring to get a bit farther away. There was nothing there... just me... and Jay-jay still. I had had enough of this. I strode forward and grabbed Robin's wrist.

"We gotta go now!" I pulled him a ways across the roof.

"Hey! What are you doing? Let go!" He tried to pull away.

"No! Don't you see, we-" A shadow came down over us... the next thing I knew I was falling, off the building... still on the building... I didn't know. The last thing I remember was a sickening -crack- a shooting pain in my head. Then nothing.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I woke up briefly. Not able to move... Someone was holding me... carrying me. I could vaguely see a silhouette... or was the person wearing black? I couldn't note anything more because I passed out again.

I woke up sometime later, more awake now then before... my room was bright... and the bed didn't feel like mine. When I hit the ground... from however high I hit it from... did Mr. J and Harley find me and take me to a safe place? or did someone else take me somewhere? The room looked like a small cell... roughly... six feet by eight feet. Bed, nightstand... no real way of escape... except the wall missing at 3 o' clock from where I was sitting.

It was just open... straight into a hallway, straight to freedom... maybe whoever was guarding was taking a break... now would be my only chance before they caged me in! I took a running start toward the opening... and knew nothing.

Ow my head... I heard people talking around me, but kept my eyes closed... it's best to listen in than wake up and let some important information slip out of your grasp.

"I think she tried to break the glass." Said one person. "I heard this crash... and I found her passed out on the ground."  
"I'm just surprised that there's a kid even here." Another person said.  
"Bah, who said kid's can't be nut bags too. She's fine, we have other work to do anyway." a third person chimed in. I heard all three of them leave, and the cell door shut.

Great. So I was in an insane asylum. What fun. I laid on my bed a while, my head hurt to much to do anything else. Then when I felt up to it, I explored my tiny cell.

Most boring exploration of my life. I went to adjust my utility belt, it wasn't feeling quite right...

uh... where was my utility belt? I looked down... i was in a light gray t-shirt and sweat pants.  
Doesn't that count as a violation of some sort? I took a quick look around. Checking under my bed, see if they left me anything... nothing.

I stood back up and let out a sigh, placing my hand on the glass wall of my cell. That's when I noticed who was in the cell opposite mine. I tapped the glass a few times, and when I had his attention I blew on the glass to make it foggy. Then very carefully, backwards, I wrote

_Riddle me this._

He changed his stance and looked at me expectantly. Ah...crap... leave it to me... I slumped a little and let my head rest against the glass before breathing on it again and continuing.

_Okay, it's not really a riddle, just a question._

He raised an eyebrow and I wiped my words away and breathed on the glass once more.

_What'd they do with all my stuff?_

He wrote back.

_You didn't expect them to leave you with weapons did you? _

He grinned.

_Well, no. Was anyone else brought in with me?  
_

Like Harley maybe? I figured she'd be caught or something.

_Sorry kid. They don't keep us updated like that._

Then he wiped his words away and moved deeper into the confines of his cell. The conversation was over. I sat down and leaned up against the wall, putting my head in my arms.

A buzzer sounded and I felt the glass wall slide up. I didn't move. If they wanted to drag me off somewhere, shock therapy... or even regular therapy... they would have to drag me. Buggers.

I heard something slide in front of me, and the glass wall slide back into place. I picked up my head and looked at what had been put in my cell. I frowned.

It was a silver lunch tray, filled with what could only be best explained as cafeteria mystery meat gravy and potatoes. The mystery being if this stuff was going to kill you quickly or painfully slow. I carefully kicked it away, not wanting any of the mystery food-stuffs to spill onto my floor and burn all the way through. There really wasn't much to do in a place like this... except sleep and try to dig yourself out with a spoon... I'd try the latter but I'm not that desperate yet. So I laid down and slept a while.

*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*:_:*

I fogged up the glass and quickly scribbled something before going after the Riddler's attention. He was an okay person to talk to... when he felt like it. Though rarely when he said anything did it make a whole lot of sense.

_Hey Riddler! I have a real riddle for you this time.  
_  
I grinned smugly.

_Oh?_

he wrote back... he didn't seem all that interested... too bad.

_How is a raven like a writing desk?  
_  
I had always wondered the answer to that one, and well... who better to ask?

He thought for a minute, and then wrote back.

_Because the notes for which they are noted are not noted for being musical notes... is that all you wanted?_

See? I told you he made life confusing. He could have said that in a much simpler way... He wiped his words away and started writing something new.

_My life is often a volume of grief,  
your help is needed to turn a new leaf.  
Stiff is my spine and my body is pale.  
But I'm always ready to tell a tale.  
What am I?_

I'll tell you the truth right now. I'm not good at riddles. I don't even really like riddles. I thought for a minute... Volume, leaf, stiff spine... tell a tale... man I hope this is right.

_You're a book?_

He grinned. I didn't like the looks of this.

_Correct._

I practically took a double take... I... got that right? I was about to write back when that bloody buzzer sounded and the glass lifted away.

"Dinner." Said the man in the white coat... I didn't know his name... and didn't really care. He set the tray on the floor... as if I was some sort of dog, but in reality... it was him who was the animal. If I kicked him into the wall right now I could get out of my cell before the door dropped, take out the guards in my way, and make it out the door before someone could catch me.

"Still not eating your food huh?" The man sighed, picking up the two still full trays sitting in the corner of my cell. There would have been around... oh... five trays in the corner, but they took out the first three trays this morning.

They gave us three meals a day. Today was day two... I only knew this because the Riddler told me, the lack of windows or even a clock make it difficult to tell the time around here. I'd guess... but every minute feels like an hour.

"You might as well take that one too." I say callously not ever looking at the guy. He sighs again.

"I would, but what would you do if you got hungry? You can't starve yourself forever." he walked out of my cell and the glass was put back down in it's rightful place.

I kicked the tray aside. I wouldn't have to starve myself forever, and this was nothing, I had gone a lot longer without any food. My stomach growled irritably, threatening to eat itself. I grit my teeth and let the pain pass. Okay... so I was a little hungry... but no way I was going to eat it. Who knows what kind of drugs they put in there... they could be using their food to make the prisoners here spill their guts.  
I looked suspiciously at the tray.  
Spilling their guts physically or metaphorically I wasn't quite sure.

I heard a tapping sound and looked over at the Riddler's cell.

_I didn't think one little girl could show so much malice towards a person.  
_  
He grinned a little.

_Tell me, who do you work for? And don't lie, you have to work for one of us._

I shrugged. He'd given me a lot of information, might as well give him a little back.

_The clown prince of Gotham._

I smiled. Then quickly wiped away my words. There was someone coming... more than one as they came closer I could better tell who they were. Commissioner Gordon and a band of officers.

The buzzer at my door sounded.

_Looks like I'll be seeing you, Riddler._

I wrote quickly, and wiping it away as the glass wall lifted up.

Looks like things are going to finally get interesting.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I could feel their cold stares through the glass that separated us… though I couldn't really see past the small… and I mean small… patch of light coming from that tiny excuse for a lamp sitting in the room… I could see Commissioner Gordon though. He was asking me questions incessantly.

"What's your name?" what was this… the third… fourth time?

I said nothing.

"How old are you?" We were back to that too… he was like a broken record… I figured they would have let me go back to my cell… oh… thirty questions ago… guess not.

"Do you have any hobbies?" That was a new one… but I still didn't respond.

"Look." He said, pinching the bridge of his nose, and forcing his glasses up a little. "Is there anything I can do to get you to say something?" I was really slow about responding to this one… I found it was bad to keep Mr. J waiting for an answer… but better to keep outside people waiting… just a minute or two.

"Food." I said. His eyes brightened with hope. I stifled a laugh… he just wanted to get me to talk… he said nothing about answers. That and two days of eating nothing really isn't the best thing to be doing... I felt like I was going to pass out on the table if they kept me here much longer.

"What kind of food?" He asked… his voice controlled, but I could still catch the excitement in it.

"Hmm…" I thought a moment… Had to be something I couldn't get a hold of often… who wants plain old every day food with an opportunity like this? "Cheese burger, fries, and a coke." I stared down at my hands, and grinned.

I have to say… they work fast when they want something… I had my snack food within ten minutes. And I can honestly say I was grateful… just as long as they hadn't poisoned it… little buggers… but it was better than Arkham food.

"Now will you talk?" Asked Gordon as I munched a fry.

"Of course." I smiled "That was the deal… wasn't it, commissioner?" … felt like the atmosphere just had a lot of weight taken off of it… I couldn't help but glance around the dark room… as if I could see all the officers giving a sigh of relief on the other side of the glass… as if I could see anything at all.

Gordon mimicked the feeling, letting out a sigh. "Good… now if you'll excuse me, I really need some coffee."

I raised an eyebrow as he left… I couldn't be that exasperating… or maybe it was just that late… I wasn't sure… eh, whatever.

I heard the door buzz and then click open… then the click and whir of the overhead lights.

I blinked a couple of times… it was bright… not as bright as Mr. J's lights back at Arkham… erm… when it was abandoned, but bright enough to screw up my vision a little. I waited for my eyes to adjust to the light and then turned back to my food.

I nearly jumped out of my skin! I thought Gordon and I were the only ones in the room! Who decided to let the Bat in anyway… I felt the surprised look on my face and changed it quickly back to my disinterested gaze, as I bit into another french-fry… my appetite was gone though.

It was silent… he wasn't making a move… I mean literally, he wasn't moving. It was making me nervous… which was probably what he was hoping for… I needed to calm down… I mean now… before I let something slip… or start crying… or something.

I closed my eyes and started slowly… almost silently ticking.

"What's your name?" He finally asked. I took a deep breath.

"What's yours?" I asked… putting out my most innocent face and voice.

"I'm asking the questions here." He said… I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair… Mr. J was right, this guy was no fun.

I took a sip of my soda. "No need to be snippy about it." I frowned.

"What's your name?" Yeesh… did he think he was going to get any more answers than Gordon did? … well… probably.

"Zoey." I had decided on that a while ago… I actually had told them my name earlier… but they didn't believe me...

"I think we both know your name's not Zoey." He sounded surprisingly patient… but he probably wasn't.

"Well I think we both know your name's not Batman." I retorted "Besides, it sounds like you already know it… why do I have to bother telling you?"

He looked a little surprised… hard to tell under the mask… if he was surprised, it didn't last long.

"Just tell me what it is." He said.

"So you can disbelieve me like everyone else?" I huffed. "I'll just have to give you another fake name so you'll shut up."

"So you admit that Zoey was a fake name?"

I glared at him. "Thought you already knew it was…"

"So what is it?" Man this guy was pushy.

I gave my innocent look again. "Promise to believe me?"

He was silent… why wasn't he talking?

Tick…tick…tick…tick…

I would have liked my ticking to be a little quieter… but it wasn't happening.

"It's Robin." I said ruffling my messy black hair. I couldn't take the tension any more... the guy was just too quiet... too still.

He didn't move... or talk... "Hey! You said you'd believe me!" I said, sounding disappointed. … … … he was still being quiet… what was he thinking…

Tick…tick…tick…tick…tick…

"Who put you up to this, Robin?" His tone of voice said he didn't quite buy that that was my name, but at least he said something.

"No one." …tick…tick…tick…tick

"Where'd you get the Laughing gas?" Did he really expect me to just spill the beans?

"Same place you do Mr. Happy." I smiled… and then frowned halfway rolling my eyes. "Yeah, that joke should probably have been directed at someone else." I still had no idea what he was thinking… Augh! Him and that stupid mask! What kind of coward goes around wearing a mask really?... granted I wear one… but it doesn't cover the full top half of my face!

"Why did you do it?" he asked.

"Classified." I shot curtly. Can't start monologing… it's retarded… and it's too easy to let something slip that way.

"What were you planning?" he asked.

I laughed for that one. "Planning? I don't plan anything." My laugh sounds sort of like Mr. J's… I didn't really notice that before…

… … He was being silent again… I hoped he was just thinking up another stupid question…

tick tick tick tick tick

He stood up and grabbed his chair. I could feel my eyes noticeably widen… no… he couldn't do anything to me… the police would barge in and he'd be the one in trouble! The thought didn't calm me…

Tick…tick…tick…tick… at least my ticks were slow, and few… like Mr. J taught me. If they were quicker he would keep scaring me until I cracked.

He walked past me, and to the door, jamming the door with the chair. Yeah… there went my little 'the police will stop him' idea.

Tick…tick…tick…tick… It was audible now... which made me more nervous.

"You have a nervous tick." Batman said calmly, striding back towards me.

"Do I?" I said, sounding believably calm, though I was far from it. "Then I should take it to therapy." That was funny, but before I could let out a laugh he grabbed me, slamming my back against the wall.

"No I mean literally, you have a nervous tick." Really couldn't argue that logic… especially with the proof coming out of my mouth.

"Tick… tick… tick…" I wished he would put me down… this was really scary… like really really scary… who knew what he could do to me… the police couldn't get through the door to stop him… he could rip me to shreds…

"Why'd you do it?" He asked… again.

I clawed at his gloved hands. "Do what?"

"Why'd you set off the bombs… someone could have gotten hurt." I continued to claw…

"Put me down!"

"Not until you answer me."

"No one would have gotten hurt… I tested it!"

"Tested it?"

"Put me down!"

"Answer me!"

I held an arm up a little so he could see the scar across my arm. "See! The first set did this… I made the rest safer… no one would have gotten more than a small scratch at point blank range."

"Why'd you do it?" Again…

I glared at him. "Tick… tick… tick… tick…" He pulled my back away from the wall, and then slammed me into it again.

It nearly knocked the air out of me. "Attention! It was for Attention!" I gasped.

"From who?" He asked, sounding really scary and serious.

"I can't say…" I squeaked. I turned my head away from him "Tick… tick… tick… tick…" Had to pull it together.

"Why not?" He growled.

"Because you'll take me away from them… It will be like… like…" I looked at him. "Like taking bats away from you." He stared at me curiously… was that it? I couldn't tell… I felt his grip loosen and then tighten again… I better keep talking.

"We're the same. You had a bad day… I had a bad day… everyone's one bad day away from being like us." that's it... if I keep rattling this off maybe I'll hit some nerve... some little bit of compassion in the Bat's black heart.

"I found my family, and you found bats…" I paused for air… I was hoping it wasn't long enough for him to slam me into the wall and freak me out again. "Where… where would you be without bats? Would you have returned to normal after your bad day? Or would you be here… with me… in Arkham?" He didn't do anything for a while… and I ticked quietly in the meantime… Mr. J hated it when I ticked to loud while he was thinking.

After a minute I his grip loosen again… and I slid down to the floor.

I took a deep breath and stared at the cracks in the cement… "Tick…tick…tick…tick…tick…"

I heard Batman walk to the door, pull the chair away… and exit. Shortly thereafter two officers and the nice white-coats from Arkham came to pick me up. The police cuffed me… with all their long fanciful chains… and the white-coats escorted me away.

"Is this where I ask for my phone call?" I asked innocently.

When I was safely back in my cell… I noticed a little card on the table by my bed… I picked it up and opened it… a Joker playing card slipped out and I picked it off the floor before looking at what was written in the… uh… birthday card? I sighed… nice… wasn't even my birthday...

_I must commend you on the quick thinking. We didn't think you'd do so well._

_See you soon._

_Mr. J and Harley Quinn._

I smiled. They hadn't forgotten about me. I was filled with renewed energy... I could take on the world as long as Mr. J and Harley were there to back me up.


End file.
